As a teenager actress Charlize Theron witnessed her mother shooting her father dead in their home and now 21 years later the property in South Africa has again become the scene of a killing.

Owner Barry Newland was tortured and murdered at the house in Benoni, near Johannesburg, last Friday by a gang of five burglars.

In 1991, the Oscar-winning actress watched as her mother, Gerda Maritz, killed her father Charles after he pulled a gun on the pair after returning home drunk.

Close bond: Actress Charlize Theron with her mother Gerda. In 1991, the Oscar-winning actress watched as her mother killed her father after he pulled a gun on the pair after returning home drunk

She was not prosecuted as authorities ruled she had pulled shot him four times in self-defence.

A police spokeswoman said the victim had been suffocated with a plastic bag after being forced forced into a bathroom where he was tied up.

Marks on his body indicate he may have been burned with cigarettes and a clothes iron.

'I'm not denying that [my father's death] is a part of me': When the Monster actress was 15 her mother Gerda was forced to shoot Theron's alcoholic father Charles dead after he threatened them both

The five robbers gained access to the property by pretending to be interested in buying a used car for sale by Newman’s girlfriend, reported South African newspaper Independent News.

The robbers also tied up the gardener and a domestic worker and forced them into another room.

For years Charlize refused to talk about the incident, which occurred when she was 15, only saying that her mother was a victim of domestic violence.

But in 2004, the 36-year-old gave her first television interview about the killing to ABC News, saying she was in her bedroom when her father and an uncle came home and an aunt had called the house to warn that her father was agitated.

Childhood: A young Charlize makes friends with a chimpanzee and right Charlize enjoys a day at the beach with her father Charles

'Nature gives you instinct. And I knew something bad was going to happen,' Theron said

In her account of the shooting, the young Charlize told detectives she heard her father swearing and shouting at her mother to let him into the house.

Her statement reads: 'My father said he would kill us with his shotgun. My mom said she was afraid that he really would kill us.

'The next moment I heard a number of shots being fired. I don't know how many, and then I heard my mom screaming hysterically.

'When I went into the passage, I saw my father's brother, Danie Theron.

Dazzling: A teenage Charlize models in South Africa, just before she left for Hollywood and right pictured this year at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards held at Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California

'My mother was sitting in a corner of the bedroom crying and she said, 'Charlize, I've shot them. I've shot them.' I can only state that my mother had not had any alcohol at any stage. She was sober.'

Gerda told police her drunk and aggressive husband had threatened to shoot her and Charlize.

'I simply started firing at him. I don't know how many times. I saw him fall. When I turned around I saw his brother behind me and instinctively I fired another shot in his direction. His brother fell down.'

It was the ambitious Gerda who pushed
her beautiful daughter into modelling, setting her on the road to
Hollywood. They remain very close.

She and Charlize also talk in Afrikaans which they speak to each other and Charlize said her mother is her hero who helped her deal with the tragedy.

Award-winning: Charlize Theron won a Best Actress Oscar in 2004 for her role in the film Monster, as a prostitute who became a serial killer

Speaking to Piers Morgan last year, she said: 'It was the great tragedy of my life, I think what follows is you have to find where you want yourself to be, and how you want people to see you in this world, I had a parent who led me through the grief, shock and anger.

'She guided me to towards not being a victim, it doesn't haunt me, I am completely at peace.'

In 2008, Charlize's aunt Elsa Malan insisted her 'mildmannered' brother would never have attacked his wife or adored daughter.

She made the claims in a book, Killer Women: Fatal South African Females by South African crime writer Chris Karsten.

Charlize, 31, whose latest movie was Snow White and the Huntsman, was said to be furious that members of her father's family had broken years of silence to talk about the killing.

The book also revealed how Charlize's police statement 'went missing' soon after she won a Best Actress Oscar in 2004 for her role in the film Monster, as a prostitute who became a serial killer.

It has resurfaced after investigations by Karsten.

'We want to set the record straight. All those perceptions that Charles was some kind of a monster-at home were very hurtful to our family and everyone who knew him. He was a dedicated family man. His wife and daughter were the most important things in his life.'

She recalls a 'benign and mild-mannered man' who 'could never lift his hand in anger to anyone. Gerda, on the other hand, was more of an introvert.

'She could be testy and grumpy and never hesitated to speak her mind.

'Charles always knew when he overstepped the mark with her and then he would meekly try to patch things up.

'As for his so-called alcoholism, we all know that he loved his drink but I never saw him drunk.'